Anthropogenic Neighborhood Impact on Bacterial and Fungal Communities in Polar Bear Feces.

Climate changes cause a dramatical increase in the ice-free season in the Arctic, forcing polar bears ashore, closer to human settlements associated with new and non-natural food objects. Such a diet may crucially transform the intestinal microbiome and metabolism of polar bears. The aim of this study was to characterize changes in the gut bacterial and fungal communities resulting from the transition to anthropogenic food objects by the means of 16S and ITS metabarcoding.

Elemental composition of sediments on exterior window surfaces along vertical gradient in Moscow.

Despite numerous studies on the spatial distribution of pollutants in urban environments, little is known about their vertical profile. The presented research aims to analyze loadings and concentration of elements sedimented on exterior glass window surfaces of a high-rise building in Moscow city. The roadside part of a typical 17-level building was examined.

Metagenomes of Lichens Solorina crocea and Peltigera canina.

Lichen genomes are usually considered genomes of separately cultured mycobiont and photobiont. Analysis of lichen metagenomes can give important information on specific lichen-associated microorganisms that can affect lichen metabolism. Here, we report a metagenome of peltigeralean lichens, containing cyanobacterial (Peltigera canina) and cyanobacterial/green algal (Solorina crocea) partners.

Fungal Planet description sheets: 868-950.

Novel species of fungi described in this study include those from various countries as follows: , and on leaves, , and on leaves, and on leaves, on leaves, on litter of regenerating subtropical rainforest, (incl. gen. nov.

Ecotoxicological effects of traffic-related pollutants in roadside soils of Moscow.

The objective of this research is to find correlations between traffic-related contaminants in the roadside soils and their ecotoxicity. The study was conducted in Moscow in the vicinity of a highway of 125 000 vehicles per day. The topsoils (0-3 cm depth) were sampled perpendicular to the road at 1-, 6-, 10-, 18- and 50-m distances from the roadbed.

[Role of microbiocenosis of the gastrointestinal tract in the nutrition of grouse].

In order to assess the role of the microbiocenosis of the digestive tract of herbivorous birds in transforming poor forage, the activity of cellulolytic enzymes in all departments of the gastrointestinal tract of the black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) and Western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) was studied. The functional diversity of microbial communities of different departments was also investigated. In both species of birds, nitrogenase and cellobiohydrolase activities were discovered in the digestive tract, with the maximum observed in the cecum.

[Assimilation of biological nitrogen by European beaver].

Nitrogenase activity, the abundance of diazotrophic bacteria, the structure and functional characteristics of the complex of microorganisms, and the content of nitrogen and carbon were determined in the contents of the gastrointestinal tract of the European beaver. A high nitrogen-fixing activity in the large intestine correlated with an increase in nitrogen content in the chyme upon its transfer over the gastrointestinal tract. It is assumed that microbial nitrogen fixation plays a major role in nitrogen nutrition of the European beaver.

[Specific features of nitrogen fixation in the termite Reticulitermes lucifugus].

Nitrogenase activity, abundance of diazotrophic bacteria, and structural and functional parameters have been determined in microbial complexes of three populations of the termite Reticulitermes lucifugus and their nest materials. These data have been used for comparative analysis of nitrogen-fixing micioorganism communities in termite guts and in nest materials from different termite populations. Similarities in the structure and other parameters of these communities have been revealed.